AP Course of Study for Advanced Placement Language...

AP Course of Study

for

Advanced Placement®

Language and Composition

Session I Overview

AP Course Objectives and Syllabus

What is rhetoric?

Discourse which affects an audience—informs, moves, delights, and teaches

Why do we discuss writing in terms of writer-reader-subject?

Aristotle’s three appeals—to the good will of the speaker, to the nature of the

audience, to the logic of the subject matter—suggest the writer/reader/subject

relationship

What is a topic?

Aristotle’s topoi (Greek for places) means not a list of subjects, but ways in which

arguments applying to any subject matter can be discovered, such as, arguing from

opposites, from parts to whole, cause and effect, from the definitions of words, from

parts to the whole, etc. from Lindemann, Erica A. Rhetoric for Writing Teachers, second ed. New York:

Oxford University Press. Inc., 1987.

Pat Sherbert

College Board National Consultant

Sherbert Language and Composition 2

AP® is a registered trademark of the College Board. The College Board was not involved in the production of and does not endorse this product. © 2007 by Pat Sherbert. All rights reserved.

English Language and Composition Objectives

“An AP course in English Language and Composition engages students in becoming skilled

readers of prose written in a variety of periods, disciplines, and rhetorical contexts, and in

becoming skilled writers who compose for a variety of purposes. Both their writing and their

reading should make students aware of the interactions among a writer’s purposes, audience

expectations, and subjects as well as the way generic conventions and the resources of

language contribute to effectiveness in writing.” (Acorn, 2010)

I. Reading

A. The Purposes and Modes of Discourse

1. Identify the purpose and modes of discourse and explain their relation to

rhetorical structures.

2. Explain how the parts of discourse are related to each other and to the whole.

3. Recognize the conventions of different genres and periods of time, and identify

the assumptions authors have made about their audiences and periods.

B. The Development of Discourse

1. Recognize the main ideas and purposes and explain inferences about an author's

intentions.

2. Evaluate the connections between ideas at different levels of generality, including

the adequacy of evidence.

3. Evaluate the value and validity of a writer's message in relation to its historical,

social, or cultural context.

C. The Language of Discourse

1. Discern and describe in an appropriate vocabulary how the arrangement of

language creates a voice.

2. Identify the major devices that control tone and structure; show how they serve

rhetorical purposes.

II. Writing

A. The purpose and Modes of Discourse

1. Employ a variety of rhetorical structures appropriate for various purposes and

audiences.

2. Subordinate parts to an effective whole and create appropriate transitions between

them.

3. Adopt the conventions of the appropriate discipline or community of discourse

when writing for a particular audience.

B. The Development of Discourse

1. Gather information and ideas, discover patterns, and develop a rationale.

2. Select and arrange information and ideas effectively for given purposes and

modes of discourse.

3. Communicate ideas and experiences to an intellectually sophisticated audience.

C. The Language of Discourse

1. Shape language in a variety of rhetorical patterns so that sentence structure,

diction and figures of speech serve purpose, mode, and audience.

2. Explain how one's choices of language produce intended effects.



CONSIDERATIONS FOR CONTENT

1. Reading Skills include

A. Recognizing author's

1. Purpose, or Aim (Rhetorical Triangle)

2. Audience and Appeal (Rhetorical Triangle)

3. Tone, his attitude toward

a. audience

b. subject

4. Rhetorical Devices

a. effect devices creates (tone)

b. how device creates effect

5. Rhetorical Stance: Organization of Devices

B. Identifying details and their significance

C. Recognizing Theme as distinguished from Reader's Response

II. Theme of literary works expands in level of sophistication of complexity and ambiguity as the

reader becomes more intellectually mature.

III. A strong program will have a balance of genre, periods, and cultures.



Language and Composition Exam

Multiple Choice Prose passages to examine

for critical reading

60 Minutes Students answer the multiple choice

questions about style, diction, syntax,

45% of total score rhetorical strategies

Essays Students write essays in

(Reading time extended 15 min.) response to given prompt

120 Minutes Make an argument or evaluate a

given prompt or write an analysis of

rhetorical purpose and effect, including

analysis of tone, rhetorical strategy, and

55% of total score style

David Jolliffe, Chief Reader –2004-2007

“I've been saying that we ask two kinds of questions on the free-response section: those that call for analysis of rhetorical purpose and effect and those that call for an argumentative essay. Teachers

need to begin learning that style is the third canon of rhetoric, and that a stylistic analysis must also be a

rhetorical analysis.”

These exams address content of college-level work and use college-level texts: This is Accountability

at its best.

AP Students are students with "Want-to": students who are academically talented or gifted profit if

that have "want-to"; students who want to achieve, who are willing to work hard, can profit and

succeed even if they have average ability. Students who want to take the AP Challenge should be

allowed to try. If they do not "place out" of college English, they will be better prepared for it than

students who did not take an AP English course.

A student who enrolls for AP English because he thinks it will be less work and he can coast through

it as he has past classes is not likely to profit or succeed in the class unless he changes his motives and

expectations.

AP Teachers are enthusiastic about the subject and about students. They want to learn and want

students to be the best that they can be. They are not "threatened" by students who are brighter than

the teacher. They are thrilled by new insights reached by students.



The AP English courses that prepare students for the tests usually have these fundamental

components:

� Study Language

Diction, Syntax, Arrangement;

� Study Rhetoric

Logic, Argumentation, Exposition, Narration, Description;

� Demonstrate analytic and evaluative skills;

� Analyze rhetorical context, all genres; such as

• Personal experience

• Science and technology

• History

• Literature

• Politics

• Current events

• Sports

• Pop cultures

� Create and sustain arguments based on readings, research, or personal

experience;

� Write for a variety of purposes;

� Practice test-taking skills;

� Know the writing process; with careful attention to inquiry and research;

drafting, revising, editing, and review;

� Analyze images as text;

� Evaluate and incorporate reference documents into researched papers

See the "Acorn Book": Advanced Placement Course Description for English and

Teacher's Guide to Advanced Placement English Literature Courses

Note that AP courses are developed by the teacher, organized by the teacher in whatever way

the teacher prefers, as John McPhee at Princeton University named his non-fiction writing

course: Literature of Fact

- organized by theme, genre, form, chronology

- organized by letters, diaries, histories, biographies, sermons, speeches, satire, social

criticism and journalism

- organized by Pre-20th Century and 20

th Century to the Present.



"Language and Composition The AP Language and Composition course assumes that students already understand and use

standard English grammar. The intense concentration on language use in this course should enhance

their ability to use grammatical conventions both appropriately and with sophistication as well as to

develop stylistic maturity in their prose. Stylistic development is nurtured by emphasizing the

following:

• a wide-ranging vocabulary used appropriately and effectively;

• a variety of sentence structures, including appropriate use of subordination and coordination;

• a logical organization, enhanced by specific techniques to increase coherence, such as

repetition, transitions, and emphasis;

• a balance of generalization and specific illustrative detail; and

• an effective use of rhetoric, including controlling tone, establishing and maintaining voice,

and achieving appropriate emphasis through diction and sentence structure.

When students read, they should become aware of how stylistic effects are achieved by writers'

linguistic choices. Since imaginative literature often highlights such stylistic decisions, fiction and

poetry clearly have a place in the AP Language and Composition course. The main purpose for

including such literature is to aid students in understanding rhetorical and linguistic choices, rather

than to study literary conventions."

(Acorn Book, 2010, 8-10)

"Literature and Composition Writing should be an integral part of the AP English Literature and Composition course, for

the AP Examination is weighted toward student writing about literature. Writing assignments should

focus on the critical analysis of literature and should include expository, analytical, and argumentative

essays. Although critical analysis should make up the bulk of student writing for the course, well-

constructed creative writing assignments may help students see from the inside how literature is

written. Such experiences will sharpen their understanding of what writers have accomplished and

deepen their appreciation of literary artistry. The goal of both types of writing assignments is to

increase students' ability to explain clearly, cogently, even elegantly, what they understand about

literary works and why they interpret them as they do.

To that end, writing instruction should include attention to developing and organizing ideas in

clear, coherent, and persuasive language. It should include study of the elements of style.

Throughout the course, emphasis should be placed on helping students develop stylistic maturity,

which, for AP English, is characterized by the following:

• a wide-ranging vocabulary used with denotative accuracy and connotative resourcefulness;

• a variety of sentence structures, including appropriate use of subordinate and coordinate

constructions

• a logical organization, enhanced by specific techniques of coherence such as repetition,

transitions, and emphasis

• a balance of generalization with specific illustrative detail; and

• an effective use of rhetoric, including controlling tone, maintaining a consistent voice, and

achieving emphasis through parallelism and antithesis.

(Acorn Book, 2010, 51)



Council of Writing Program Administrators

WPA Outcomes Statement for First-Year Composition

The Executive Committee of the Council of Writing Program Administrators, the leading

professional organization of college writing programs, published in a number of journals the

following Outcomes Statement about what students should learn in their first-year writing

courses. The College Board and Educational Testing Services has actively participated in

understanding common goals for first-year writing programs. Outcomes Statement identified

four main areas of knowledge, what writing students should learn in each area, and how

faculty in all fields can build on this learning.

Outcomes:

Rhetorical Knowledge

By the end of the first-year of composition, students should

• Focus on a purpose

• Respond to the needs of the different audiences

• Respond appropriately to different kinds of rhetorical situations

• Use conventions of format and structure appropriate to the rhetorical situation

• Adopt appropriate voice, tone, and level of formality

• Understand how genres shape reading and writing

• Write in several genres

Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing

By the end of first-year composition, students should

• Use writing and reading for inquiry; learning, thinking, and communicating

• Understand a writing assignment as a series of tasks, including finding, evaluating,

analyzing, and synthesizing appropriate primary and secondary sources

• Integrate their own ideas with those of others

• Understand the relationship among language, knowledge, and power

Processes


• Be aware that it usually takes multiple drafts to create and complete a successful text

• Develop flexible strategies fro generating, revising, edition, and proof-reading

• Understand writing as an open process that permits writers to use later invention and

re-thinking to revise their work

• Understand the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes

• Learn to critique their own and others’ work

• Lean to balance the advantages of relying on others with the responsibility of doing

their part

• Use a variety of technologies to address a range of audiences



Knowledge of Conventions


• Learn common formats for different kinds of texts

• Develop knowledge of genre conventions ranging from structure and paragraphing to

tone and mechanics

• Practice appropriate means of documenting their work

• Control such surface features as syntax, grammar, punctuation, and spelling

WPA Summer Conference in Utah, 2002, and Michigan, 2003

Practice Questions:

Writing and Critical Reading Assignment: Rhetorical Analysis

Select a piece of writing from an author listed on page 11 of the Acorn Course Description who

argues a position and analyze its rhetorical situation. How students organize their analysis will

depend in part upon the writing you choose and in part on the decisions they make about how to

arrange the parts of their analysis

1. Select a short (five to ten paragraphs) text that takes a position on an issue. Newspaper

editorials, featured columnists published in newspapers and magazines, magazine

commentary, political ads, and ads from advocacy groups are all good contemporary sources.

2. To prepare students for the analysis, have them do a careful preliminary reading of the

writing you’ve chosen. Pay close attention to the What and the How by doing the following:

• Do a first reading that uses strategies such as underling, annotation, summarizing,

and exploratory writing to make sure they understand what the writer is saying.

• On the second reading, start to pay attention to what the writer is doing. You may

want to outline or describe the writer’s strategy.

3. What is the writer’s purpose? What is he trying to accomplish? Is he creditable or

knowledge about the topic? How do you know?

4. Who is the intended audience? What kind of relationship is he trying to establish with

readers? Or, what assumptions is he trying to make?

5. What is the writer’s use of language? What is the writer’s tone? What do his word choices

show about his assumptions about the readers? Does he use specialized language, casual, or

slang? Are there any memorable figures of speech? Does the writer stereotype?

6. How does the writer accomplish his purposes? Is the writer effective?

Trimbur, John. The Call to Write. 2

nd Ed. New York: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc. 2002.



Advanced Placement Language and Composition

Authorized Syllabus

I. COURSE DESCRIPTION

The purpose of Advanced Placement English is to provide the able, motivated students an

opportunity to do college-level work in high school. Since these students will be petitioning,

via the Advanced Placement Literature and Composition Examination given each May, for

college credit, the content and objectives of this course should continue to be closely aligned

with freshman English course offerings in universities and colleges.

Examination of these courses shows them to be, almost without exception, non-survey; nor

are they particularly designed for future English teachers. Their titles vary across the

nation’s campuses, but their syllabi indicate goals of understanding and appreciation of

literary works by major authors, with a humanities emphasis. Hence, the inclusion of music

and art, as they might enhance the understanding of particular works, is not infrequent.

For the most part, students in AP English will not be concluding their study of writing and

discourse in high school. Consequently, teachers should avoid most, if not all, literary works

whose value is primarily historical and confine themselves to those which are of importance

not only in the literary but also in the humanistic world which encompasses philosophy,

psychology, anthropology, government, history and geography, and the fine arts.

II. SELECTION OF STUDENTS

Prior to pre-enrollment in March, students should consider admission into AP English.

A student’s academic disposition is the most important characteristic for enrollment and success in

this class. The purpose is one of stimulating students to achieve their potential.

AP Central provides guidance through sample essays and objective practice. Students who possess

most or all of the following characteristics should perform well in this course:

1. The ability to read accurately and to have some awareness of what

reading skills are required for a variety of genres

2. The ability to discuss intelligently, having shown evidence of accurate

listening through thoughtful comments

3. The motivation to go beyond the assignment, beyond the superficial

4. A sense of responsibility regarding reading and writing assignments

5. The maturity to accept criticism and to offer it constructively

6. The willingness to wrestle with questions for which there may be no

answers

7. The possession of writing skills which show more than just some

awareness of organization, diction and syntax, and mechanics.

Students can log onto AP Central for additional familiarity and practice to become successful

in an AP class.



III. LEARNING OBJECTIVES 1. To analyze and interpret samples of good writing, identifying and

explaining an author’s use of rhetorical strategies;

2. To apply strategies to their own writing;

3. To create and sustain arguments based on readings, research, and

personal experience;

4. To write for a variety of purposes;

5. To demonstrate an understanding of conventions of citing primary and

secondary source material;

6. To produce a expository, analytical, and argumentative compositions

that introduce a complex central idea and develop it with appropriate evidence

drawn from source material , cogent explanations, and clear transitions;

7. To move effectively though the stages of writing, with attention to

inquiry and research, drafting, revising, editing, and review;

8. To revise work to make it suitable for a different audience;

9. To analyze image as text; and

10. To evaluate and incorporate reference documents into researched papers

IV. ORGANIZATION OF CONTENT - READING AND WRITING

A. Reading

1. Intensive or close reading

a. Paraphrasing of difficult prose or poetic passages

b. Rhetorical analyses of selected prose passages

(See AP Exam questions)

c. Recognizing patterns

2. Out-of-class reading

a. Background material on literary period, author, historical

setting, philosophical trend as is necessary to understand

the content of a particular work

b. In-depth research into works of one or more authors:

several works by the same author, criticism, biographical data

3. Reading practice in understanding verse, in and out of class

a. Importance of title

b. Recognition of syntax as it relates to tone and thought flow

c. Poetic diction, tone, loaded words (connotation/denotation)

d. Imagery, including metaphor, simile, oxymoron, analogy, symbol

e. Author’s purpose

4. In-and-out-of-class reading assignments

a. In class: nonfiction, verse, scenes from plays

b. Out of class: novels, short stories, essays-- followed by

either formal or informal comprehension checks (see impromptu

writing below), discussions of difficult and/or key passages



Note: While a course work is being discussed in-class, students will be reading a

novel or nonfiction out of class.

B. Writing

1. Out-of-class writing

a. Essays based on specific works, for which a specific focus is provided

b. Essays based on more than one work, which means that the student

must arrive at a valid thesis and develop through comparison/contrast

c. Simulation or models

(1) satire - essay, letter, editorial

(2) narrative - passage in imitation of novelist’s or short story writer’s

style

(3) dialogue - scene in which character, circumstance,

central idea are conveyed

d. Simulation or models for writing

(1) satire - essay, letter, editorial

(2) narrative - passage in imitation of novelist’s or short story writer’s

or non-fiction author’s style, with personal narratives and journals

(3) dialogue - scene in which character, circumstance,

central idea are conveyed

(4) syntactical arrangements of sentences, including subordination and

coordination and appropriate vocabulary, including various levels

of usage such as colloquial, dialectic, slang, jargon, and idiom

(5) logical organization using techniques of repetition, transitions, and

emphasis

NOTE: The value of writing practice that is suggested here cannot be over-estimated. Students who

may believe that Hemingway’s narrative style in The Sun Also Rises is simplistic or amateurish are

usually shocked at the difficulty of trying to write such prose. Also, students who think poetry is less

than useful often change their minds as a result of trying to convey in a prescribed pattern their sincere,

frequently heretofore unrecognized emotions.

2. In-class writing

a. Impromptu - no advance warning, based on quoted line or

passage from current reading or a passage not studied

b. Planned - essay’s focus unannounced, although based on recently

studied topic

V. Grading Practices

The most practical method of scoring both in-class and out-of-class

essays involves the use of the 1 through 9 scale. Since AP

examination essays are scored on this scale, sample scoring guides

(recommended) and sample essays are available for study (See AP

Central—Examinations).

Use the AP College Board Web site to preview sample questions.



Semester projects are considered the equivalent of a semester exam,

appearing on the student’s report card as such. Based on criteria

which have been specified in advance, these grades are the

conventional A-B-C, etc.

VI. SEMESTER PROJECTS

At least one in-depth documented synthesis essay, which will be considered the

equivalent of a semester exam, is required. Students exempt from the first

semester exam are not exempt from this required paper. The other semester exam

should consist of a question or questions modeled after AP Exam questions. All

students are expected to take the College Board AP Exam as their final exam in

May.

Course Structure: The course has four major components:

1. Rhetorical Analysis and Close Reading

2. Argumentation and Persuasion

3. Synthesis and Documentation

4. Evaluation skills and techniques

Instruction: The course has six procedures for meeting objectives

1. Students will collaborate in small groups for discussion and drafting

2. Students will interpret, analyze, argue, synthesize, and edit writing

3. Students will choose an area of inquiry and research for information and validation of

material using correct MLA documentation with multiple sources

4. Students will develop research skills as they synthesize, evaluate and cite a variety of

primary and secondary sources using recognized editorial styles

Though completion of the researched argument or expository paper.

This process will take multiple drafts edited by peers and the teacher.

5. Students will write position papers of major events and issues using both “ordinary”

topics and “literary” topics

6. Students will write and review the questions of released AP Language

Text: Baker, Sheridan. The Practical Stylist with Readings. 6th ed. New York: Harper &

Row, 1986.

Text: Seyler, Dorothy U. Read, Reason, Write: An Argument Text and Reader. 7th ed.

New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005.

Text: 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology. Ed. Samuel Cohen. Boston: Bedford/Saint

Martin, 2004



Fall Semester

Students will be responding critically to readings by seeing rhetorical patterns and modes of

expression while still willing to

analyze logic and evidence

consider many possibilities, different ways of looking at the issue

evaluate carefully, to reach a judgment, to take a stand

read challenging writings to foster critical thinking and writing

study issues of fact, policy, and value in genre literature

write a dialectical journal and/or annotate text to respond to readings

Weekly Class Exercises:

• Rhetorical analysis—including speaker, audience, purpose, and style

• Practice schemes—analyzing phrases or sentences that create a different effect

• Writings that make the connection with means and effect

• Test taking strategies for objective and essay questions

• Analysis of selected short stories and poetry for speaker, voice, and perspective

Narration:

Amy Tan, “Fish Cheeks”

Gary Soto, “Piedra”

Langston Hughes, “Salvation”

Description:

Annie Dillard, “The Stunt Pilot”

Zora Neale Houston, “How It Feels to Be Colored Me”

Virginia Woolf, “The Death of a Moth”

Process Analysis:

Joan Didion, “On Keeping a Notebook”

Frederick Douglass, “Learning to Read and Write”

Jessica Mitford, “Behind the Formaldehyde Curtain”

Classification:

Mike Rose, “I Just Wann Be Average”

Amy Tan, “Mother Tongue”

Deborah Tannen, “Their is no Unmarked Woman”

Example:

Thomas Jefferson, “The Declaration of Independence”

Sojourner Truth, “Aren’t I a Woman?”

Comparison/Contrast:

James Baldwin, “Notes of a Native Son”

Plato, “Allegory of the Cave”

Richard Rodriquez, “Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood”

Henry David Thoreau, “Where I Lived and What I Lived For”

Cause/Effect:

Niccolo Machiavelli, “The Morals of the Prince”

Marie Winn, “Television: The Plug-In Drug”

Brent Stapes, “Just Wallk on By: Black Men and Public Space”



Argument/Persuasion:

Martin Luther King Jr. “Letter from Birmingham Jail”

Abraham Lincoln, “The Gettysburg Address

Jonathan Swift, “A Modest Proposal”

Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience”

Documented Researched Essay using MLA style: Choose a topic from our discussions of

the above essays. Possible topics are listed as the following:

• nature and environment

• race and culture

• history and politics

• work and class

• family

• identity

Using evidence from at least three outside sources including library research, online sources, and

graphs or images, draft an essay with an argumentative or expository purpose. Make sure you

consider your audience, stance or position, support, and structure.

Prepare a formal fifteen minute expository presentation of your draft to present to the class

including a completed outline of your claim and support. Have all secondary sources

correctly attributed and documented using MLA style.

Using the evaluation data and comments from the class, re-write your paper as a second draft

for review. After this review of the second draft, re-write your paper for final submission

making sure that the attributions and citations are correct.

Other Readings:

Robert J. Samuelson, “Century of Freedom”

Joshua Mitchell, “American Foreign Policy and the King George Syndrome”

Dave Berry, “Remote Control”

Ellen Goodman, “Choosing Families”

Blake, “The Chimney Sweeper”

Williams, “The Use of Force”

Sophocles, Antigone

Pastan, “Ethics”

Roethke, “My Papa’ Waltz”

Hayden, “Those Winter Sundays”

Olsen, “I Stand Here Ironing”

Oates “I, the Juror”



Spring Semester

I. Advanced Placement Examination Preparation

1. Knowledge of prior AP examinations: content of multiple choice

and essay questions, evaluation procedures, scores

2. Adaptation of AP question formulation into in-and-out-of-class

essay questions, as well as use of scoring guide

3. Practice questions - see Impromptu Writing (#2 above)

4. Timed writings with concentration on argument and evaluation based

upon released AP exams

5. Multiple speakers and claims in selected works for preparation of the

synthesis essay

II. Argument: Argument starts with defining arguments and continues with the

characteristics of arguments, the analysis and evaluation of arguments and finally to making

specific types of arguments.

A. Characteristics of Argument

Toulmin’s, Aristotle, Rogerian and conciliatory argument:

Identify and analyze from the readings

• syllogistic structures

• claims, reasons, warrants, and evidence

• visual arguments, including propaganda

• appeals

• common ground

Exercies: Using three visual arguments including one graph,

identify the claim, warrant, and supporting evidence of the

speaker. Form a committee of three and choose two visuals

having opposite claims and write a claim that demonstrates

common ground of the Rogerian argument.

Readings: Richard Morin, “Paradise Lost”

Steven Rattner, “Incurred to Inequality”

B. Evaluating and Writing Effective Arguments

Readings: Plato, “The Allegory of the Cave”

Sidney Hook, “In Defense of Voluntary Euthanasia”

David Norman, “Hadrosaur Nests” (induction)

“The Declaration of Independence” (deduction)

Brzezubski, “War and Football” (analogy)

Sadker, “Gender Games” (refutation/evaluation)

Bork, “Addicted to Health” (refutation essay)

Milton, Areopagitica



III. Arguments: Logical Fallacies

David Sadker, 'Gender Games'

James C. Sanders, letter to the editor, “Beer Commercials Do No Harm”

(Sanders was president of the Beer Institute in 1998 when this was written.)

Writing Assignment: Evaluate the argument (claim and evidence) in the following selections:

Martin Luther King Jr., “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and Reginald Rose’s

“Twelve Angry Men” using one of the following topics:

Black and white thinking

Perversion of the law

Prejudice

Traditionalism or conformity

Inertia—failure of a group or individual to press for his rights

Group think

Writing Assignment: Read Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” and defend one of the following:

Choose one:

So far as justice is concerned, the individual is very much at the mercy of

society

or

Guilty, insecure people tend to band together and to seek scapegoats on whom

they can inflict unjust punishments

IV. Position on Extended Definition:

Nancy Maris, “On Being Cripple”

Alice Walker, “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens”

Eric Lui, “Notes of a Native Speaker”

Writing Assignment: Research and define one of the following abstract topics:

Intelligence, Silence, Law, Honor, Ethics, Psychology, Morality,

Art, Music using multiple sources and correct MLA documentation.

Writing Assignment: Define, analyze, and defend an abstract concept that is found in all of

the following selections:

1. “The War Prayer,” “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death,” “A Man for All Seasons”

Act II………, Macbeth’s Act V, Scene V lines 19-28 and Hamlet’s Act II, Scene II.

(response to R & G)

2. “The Declaration of Independence” and “Declaration of Sentiments and

Resolutions”



Selections for Major Works:

Anaya, Bless Me Ultima

Capote, In Cold Blood

De Tocquiville, Democracy in American

Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

Griffin, Black Like Me

Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter

Huxley, Brave New World

Lincoln, History and Myth

Melville, Billy Budd

Miller, Death of a Salesman

Orwell, 1984

Orwell, Animal Farm

Potok, Divita’s Harp

Silko, Ceremony

Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men

Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

References: Axelrod, Rise B and Charles R. Cooper. The St. Martin’s Guide to Writing. 7

th ed. Boston: Bedford/St.

Marin’s. 2004

Baker, Sheridan. The Complete Stylist and Handbook. 3rd ed. New York: Harper and Row 1984.

Corbett, Edward P.J. Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student. 3rd ed. New York: Harper and Row, 1990.

D'Angelo, Frank J. Process and Thought in Composition. 3rd ed. Glenview: Scott, Foresman, 1985.

Fowler, H., and Jane E. Aaron. The Little, Brown Handbook. 4th ed. Glenview: Scott, Foresman, 1989.

Hacker, Diana. A Writer’s Reference. 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford Books of Saint Martin's Press, 1995.

Hardison, Jr., O.B.The Practical Rhetoric. New York: Appleton-Century-Crafts, 1966.

Hayakawa, S.I. Language in Thought and Action. 2nd ed. New York: Harcourt, Brace, ad World, 1964.

Gorrell, Donna. The Purposeful Writer: Rhetoric with Reading. 2nd ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1993.

Jolliffe, David A. and Hephzibah Roskelly. Everyday Use: Rhetoric at Work in Reading and Writing. AP

Edition. New York: Pearson Longman, 2005.

Lindemann, Erika. Rhetoric for Writing Teachers. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987.

Lundsford, Andrea, John J. Ruszkiewicz, and Keith Waters. Everything’s an Argument. 3rd ed. Boston: Saint

Martin’s Press, 2004.

Martin, Lee J., and Harry P. Kroitor. Writing the Five Hundred Theme. Engle wood Cliffs: New Jersey, 1980.

Scholes, Robert. Textual Power: Literary Theory and The Teaching of English. New Haven: Yale University

Press, 1985.

Spurgin, Sally DeWitt. The Power to Persuaade: A Rhetoric and Reader for Argumentative Writing. New

Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1985.



Weathers, Wiston, and Otis Winchester. Copy and Compose: A Guide to Prose Style. Englewood Cliffs:

Prentice-Hall, 1969.

Williams, Joseph M. STYLE: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace. 3rd ed. Glenview: Scott, Foresman, 1989.



Steps in Planning a Curriculum for a Vertical Alignment

1. Identify the terminal objective - What the AP Tests test, in this case, AP Language and Comp.

2. Determine the intermediate objectives, which must be met to enable students to meet the terminal

objective;

3. Determine the extent to which students in your grade level have addressed the terminal objective -

how many intermediate objectives they have already mastered;

4. Determine which of the remaining intermediate objectives can be appropriately addressed by

students in your grade level;

5. Determine that your vertical team will enable the students to address all the intermediate steps to

meet the terminal objective;

6. Select materials and methods with which you students will address their objectives.

Sample of Aligned Nonfiction

(Bedford’s 50 Essays)

Pre AP English I Pre-AP English II AP Language and Composition Graduation, 1

On Compassion, 7 How to Tame a Wild Tongue, 3

Notes of a Native Son, 10

Learning to Read and Write,

29

Why Don’t We Complain, 17

Lost in the Kitchen, 14

The Ways We Lie, 35 The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just

Met a Girl Named Maria, 20

What’s Wrong with Animal

Rights? 42

Dwellings, 45 On Keeping a Notebook, 23

How It Feels to Be Colored Me,

51

Salvation, 48 The Stunt Pilot, 26

The Declaration of Independence,

and Declaration of Sentiments and

Resolutions, 54

The Gettysburg Address, 67 On Dumpster Diving, 32

Letter from Birmingham Jail, 58

I Have a Dream

Notes of a Native Speaker, 71 Women’s Brains, 38

No Name Woman, 63

Learning to Read, 82 The Morals of the Prince, 75

I Just Wanna Be Average, 107

The Way to Rainy Mountain,

89

On Being a Cripple, 79

Me Talk Pretty One Day, 113

Two Ways to Belong in

America, 92

Behind the Formaldehyde Curtain, 86

The Inheritance of Tools, 110

Shooting an Elephant, 95



Just Walk on By: Black Men and

Public Space, 119

The Allegory of the Cave, 100

Language and literature from a

Pueblo Indian Perspective, 116

Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood,

103

On Being Black and Middle

Class, 122

What Are Homosexuals For, 126

Aren’t I a Woman, 146

A Modest Proposal, 130

Television: The Plug-In Drug,

162

Mother Tongue, 135

There Is No Unmarked Woman, 139

Where I Lived and What I Lived For, 142

In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens, 149

Listening, 153

Once More to the Lake, 156

Cars and Their Enemies, 159

The Death of a Moth, 166



AP LANGUAGE TEST PROMPTS 1980-2007

The AP English Language/Composition Exam was first given in 1980.

1980

1: Select a work which could be suppressed on the basis of its action language, or theme, defend

the work arguing on the basis of its artistic merit or value to the community (Argument)

2: Compare attitudes of writers about two funerals by analyzing diction and choice of detail, consider

effect on reader (Comparison)

3: Identify special place, explain feelings and meaning (Expressive description) 1981

1: Discuss effect on reader of "The Rattler" (D. C. Peattie) by analyzing author's techniques such as

organization, point of view, language, detail (Style Analysis)

2: Letter to friends (G.B. Shaw) Describe Shaw's attitude to his mother and her cremation show how

his diction and use of detail convey his attitude (Style Analysis)

3: Argue for or against Szasz' position on the struggle for definition, using evidence drawn from your real or

vicarious experience (Argument)

1982

1: Summarize author's reasons for his position on happiness and explain why you do or do not agree

(Argument)

2: Veto of "Cat Bill" (Adlai Stevenson): Analyze strategies or devices that make Stevenson's argument

effective for his audience (Analysis of Argument, style)

3: Write a description of a place to convey a recognizable feeling more through use of detail than

through direct statement (Expressive Description)

1983

1: Analyze change in society- desirable and undesirable effects (Persuasion)

2: Define attitude of writer to Work (Thomas Carlyle); analyze how he "uses language to convince" (Style

analysis)

3: Agree or disagree re: Language inflation (superlatives), ethical and social consequences (Cause and effect)

1984

l: Explain nature and relative importance of timekeeping methods and what they reveal (Process: creative)

2: Definition of Freedom - describe the concept and discuss differences (Summary compare and contrast)

3: Explain and analyze the effect of diction, imagery, syntax tone in Mailer's account of the death of

Benny Paret (Style analysis)

1985 1: Two accounts of launching of Spy satellite- analyze differences, style, rhetoric (Style

analysis, compareand contrast)

2: Two drafts of passage from Farewell to Arms- reasons for changes and effect of changes

(Stylistic analysis, compare and contrast)

3: Agree or disagree re: impact of TV (Persuasion)

1986

1: Two Indian writers' descriptions (Momaday, Brown) analyze purpose, diction, syntax.

imagery, tone (Stylistic analysis, compare and contrast)

2: Select a pair or pairs of words, elaborate on distinctions - how and by whom used

(Classification, compare and contrast)

3: Argue re: human nature wanting structure (Persuasion)

1987-

1: Argue re: patriotism vs. friendship (Argument/persuasion)

2: Zora Neale Hurston Dust Tracks on a Road - analyze diction and point of view (Stylistic analysis)

3: Language/ Idiolect - describe, analyzing purposes and Influences (Classification - Creative)



1988

1: De Toqueville, Democracy in America - evaluate assertions re democracy and aristocracy and conclusion

(Evaluate)

2: Douglass on escaping slavery - analyze language, especially figures of speech and syntax,

used to convey states of mind (Stylistic analysis)

3: Describe a place, journalistic style, defining interest and significance to reader, clarify

writer's attitude toward place (Description)

1989

l: Argue for or against validity of implied criticism of America's morals (Argument/Persuasion)

2: M L. King, Why We Can’t Wait, describe purpose, analyze style and narrative and persuasive

devices (Stylistic analysis)

3: Describe one person in two ways (2 times or situations) to convey different attitude (Description)

1990 1: Beryl Markham autobiography: Analyze juxtaposition of ideas, choice of detail, other

elements of style to reveal herself (Stylistic analysis)

2: Two descriptions of Galapagos Islands - analyze and compare and contrast stylistic and

rhetorical differences (Stylistic analysis, compare and contrast)

3: Six given statements on students newspapers and First Amendment- argue logically for or

against Supreme Court decision (Argument, use of evidence)

1991

1: Stravinsky on conductors - analyze language and rhetorical devices be uses to convey his point

of view(Stylistic analysis, rhetorical analysis)

2: Richard Rodriguez - analyze how his presentation of events (narrative structure, selection of

detail, manipulation of language tone) suggests his attitude (Stylistic analysis)

3: Argue for or against assertion, using evidence (Argument)

1992 1: Elizabeth I to troops at Tilbury, 1588 - identify purpose, analyze how she uses resources of language

e.g. diction imagery, sentence structure, to achieve purpose.

2: Addison on ridicule - write persuasive essay that defends, challenges, or qualifies his

assertion. Use evidence from observation, experience, or reading to develop your position.

3: Nancy Mairs as cripple - analyze how Mairs presents herself: consider significance of her use

of "cripple", rhetorical features such as tone diction, rhetorical structure.

1993

1: Marriage proposals from Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) and Our Mutual Friend (Charles

Dickens- compare the rhetorical strategies (e.g., arguments assumptions. attitudes diction)

of each speaker; comment on intended and probable effects on the women addressed.

2: Role of Artist in Society (H. L. Mencken) - write a carefully reasoned essay that defends,

qualifies, or challenges Mencken's views; support with reference to particular writers,

composers, or other artists.

3: Opening of "My Wood"(E. M. Forster) - define Forster's attitude and show how he conveys it

with diction, manipulation of sentences, and Biblical allusions.

1994 1: Sir George Savile on King Charles II - define the attitude toward Charles H that Savile wants

reader to adopt; analyze rhetorical strategies he uses to promote the attitude.

2: Barbara Tuchman on "Woodenheadedness" from The March of Folly - Defend, challenge.

or qualify her idea of the prevalence of wooden-headedness in human actions and decisions.

use evidence from reading/observation

3: Joan Didion "Los .Angeles Notebook" - characterize Didion's view of Santa Ana winds

and analyze how she conveys this view. Consider stylistic elements such as diction. imagery,

tone, selection of detail.



1995

1: John Ruskin on roles of soldier, merchant, and manufacturer - evaluate Ruskin's argument

for giving precedence to the soldier.

2: Ellen Goodman, "The Company Man" - analyze the rhetorical techniques used to convey her

attitude toward Phil.

3: James Baldwin on language as "key to identity" - defend, challenge, or qualify Baldwin's

ideas about language as key to identity and social acceptance. Use specific evidence from

observation, experience, reading to develop your position

1996

1: Lady Mary Wortley Montagu on the education of her granddaughter - analyze her use of

rhetorical strategies to convey her views about the role of knowledge in the lives of women

of her time.

2: Gary Soto autobiography on sin - analyze some of the ways Soto recreates the experience of

his guilty six-year-old self. Consider such devices as contrast, repetition. pacing, diction.

imagery

3: Lewis Lapham, from Money and Class in America- defend, challenge, qualify Lepham’s

view of the "American faith in money"'. draw on your own knowledge and experience.

1997

1: Meena Alexander autobiography, Fault Lines (1993): Analyze how Alexander uses language

to explore and represent her fractured identity.

2: Frederick Douglass autobiography: identify the stylistic elements that distinguish the third

paragraph from the rest of the passage and show how this difference reinforces Douglass'

rhetorical purpose in the passage as a whole.

3: Neil Postman, contrasting Orwell's vision of the future in 1984 with Huxley's in Brave New

World; Consider Postman's assertion that Huxley's view is more relevant today than is

Orwell's, then use your own critical understanding of contemporary society as evidence,

write a carefully argued essay that agrees or disagrees with Postman.

1998

1: Charles Lamb, letter to Wordsworth (1801): paying particular attention to tone of letter, analyze

techniques Lamb uses to decline Wordsworth's invitation.

2: From Portrait of a Lady, Henry James, note conflicting views of what constitutes self, write a

carefully reasoned, persuasive essay that demonstrates which of these two conceptions has

greater validity. Use specific evidence from your observation, experience, or reading to develop

your position.

3: Two letters, between Coca-Cola and Grove Press (1970). Analyze the rhetorical strategies each writer

uses to achieve his purpose and explain which letter offers the more persuasive case.

1999

1: Two passages on Okefenokee Swamp. Analyze how distinctive style of each passage reveals

the purpose of the writer.

2: Jamaica Kincaid, opening of essay, On Seeing England for the First Time" (1992). Analyze rhetorical

strategies Kincaid employs to convey her attitude toward England.

3: From Antigone: “Think. all men make mistakes/ But a good man yields when he/ Knows his course

is wrong/ And repairs the evil. The only/ Crime is Pride." Think about the implications of the quotation.

Write a carefully reasoned essay that explores the validity of the assertion, using examples from your

reading, observation, or experience to develop your position.

2000 1: Passage from One Writer’s Beginnings, the autobiography of Eudora Welty. In a well-organized essay,

analyze how Welty’s language conveys the intensity and value of these expressions.

2: Passage using Gandhi to make an argument for choosing human imperfection over “sainthood” by George

Orwell. Write an essay in which you analyze how Orwell criticizes Gandhi’s position and assess how

effectively Orwell develops his own position.

3: From King Lear: “Through tatter’d clothes small vices do appear;/ Robes and furr’d gowns hide all. Plate

sin with gold,/And the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks;/Arm it in rags, a pigmy’s straw does pierce

it.” Write a carefully reasoned essay in which you briefly paraphrase Lear’s statement and then defend,

challenge, or qualify his view of the relationship between wealth and justice. Support your argument with



specific references to your reading, observation, or experience.

2001

1: The letter below was written in 1866 by the English novelist Marian Evans Lewes (who used the pen

name George Eliot) in response to a letter from an American woman, Melusina Fay Peirce.

Read the letter carefully. Then write an essay in which you analyze the rhetorical strategies Lewes uses

to establish her position about the development of a wrier.

2: Carefully read the following passage from "Owls" by Mary Oliver. Then write an essay in which you

analyze how Oliver's style conveys the complexity of her response to nature.

3: Carefully read the following passage by Susan Sontag. Then write an essay in which you support, refute,

or qualify Sontag's claim that photography limits our understanding of the world. Use appropriate evidence

to develop your evidence.

2002

1. In his Second Inaugural Address, given one month before the end of the Civil War, United

States President Abraham Lincoln surprised his audience---which expected a lengthy speech on

politics, slavery, and states' rights---with a short speech in which he contemplated the effects of

the Civil War and offered his vision for the future of the nation. Read the address carefully. Then

write an essay in which you analyze the rhetorical strategies President Lincoln used to achieve his

purpose. Support you analysis with specific references to the text.

2. In the following excerpt from her memoirs, Virginia Woolf (1882-1941 reflects upon her childhood summers

spent in a seaside village in Cornwall, England. Read the passage carefully. Then write an essay in which

you analyze how Woolf uses language to convey the lasting significance of these moments from her past.

3. Carefully read the following passage from Testaments Betrayed, by the Czech writer Milan

Kundera. Then write an essay in which you support, qualify, or dispute Kundera's claim.

Support your argument with appropriate evidence.

2003

1: In his 1998 book Life the Movie: How Entertainment Conquered Reality, Neal Gabler wrote the following:

One does not necessarily have to cluck in disapproval that entertainment is all the things its detractors say

it is: fun, effortless, sensational, mindless, formulaic, predictable, and subversive. In fact, one might argue

that those are the very reasons so many people love it.

At the same time, it is not hard to see why cultural aristocrats in the nineteenth century and intellectuals

in the twentieth hated entertainment and why they predicted, as one typical nineteenth century critic

relied, that its eventual effect would be “to overturn all morality, to poison the springs of domestic

happiness, to dissolve the ties of our social order, and to involve our country in ruin.”

Write a thoughtful and carefully constructed essay in which you use specific evidence to defend, challenge,

or qualify the assertion that entertainment has the capacity to “ruin” society.

2: Green passage on the Civil War, convincing the African American to go to arms.

3: The two passages blow, one by John James Audubon and the other by Annie Dillard, describe large flocks of

birds in flight. Read the passages carefully. Write an essay in which you compare and contrast how each

writer describes the birds and conveys their effect on the writer as observer.

2004

1: The passage below is an excerpt from a letter written by the eighteenth-century author Lord Chesterfield to

his young son, who was traveling far from home. Read the passage carefully. Then, is a well-written essay,

analyze how the rhetorical strategies that Chesterfield uses reveal is own values.

2: Contemporary life is marked by controversy. Choose a controversial local, national, or global issue with

which you are familiar. Then, using appropriate evidence, write an essay that carefully considers the

opposing position on this controversy and proposes a solution or compromise.

3: Read carefully the following passage from the introduction of Days of Obligation by Richard Rodriguez.

Then, in a well-written essay, analyze how Rodriquez uses contrasts between Mexico and California to

explore and convey his conflicting feelings.

2005

1:The passage below is from "Training for Statesmanship" (1953), an article written by George F. Kennan, one

of the principal architects of United States foreign policy during the period following the end of the Second

World War. Read the passage carefully and select what you believe is Kennan's most compelling

observation. Then write an essay in which you consider the extent to which that observation holds true for

the United States or for any other country. Support your argument with appropriate evidence.



2: The following article is a mock press release from The Onion, a publication devoted to humor and satire.

Read the article carefully. Then write an essay in which you analyze the strategies used in the article to

satirize how products are marketed to consumers.

3: In "The Singer Solution to World Poverty," an article that appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Peter

Singer, a professor of bioethics, calls attention to the urgent need for food and medicine in many parts of the

world. Singer argues that prosperous people should donate to overseas aid organizations such as UNICEF or

Oxfam America all money not needed for the basic requirements of life. "The formula is simple: whatever

money you're spending on luxuries, not necessities, should be given away."

Write an essay in which you evaluate the pros and cons of Singer's argument. Use appropriate evidence as

you examine each side, and indicate which position you find more persuasive.

2006

1:The passage below is an excerpt from Jennifer Price's recent essay "The Plastic Pink Flamingo: A Natural

History." The essay examines the popularity of the plastic pink flamingo in the 1950s. Read the passage

carefully. Then write an essay in which you analyze how Price crafts the text to reveal her view of United

States culture.

2: The passage below is an excerpt from "On the Want of Money," an essay written by nineteenth-century

author William Hazlitt. Read the passage carefully. Then write an essay in which you analyze the rhetorical

strategies Hazlitt uses to develop his position about money.

3: From talk radio to television shows, from popular magazines to Web blogs, ordinary citizens, political

figures, and entertainers express their opinions on a wide range of topics. Are these opinions worthwhile?

Does the expression of such opinions foster democratic values?

Write an essay in which you take a position on the value of such public statements of opinion, supporting

your view with appropriate evidence.

2007 1: Read the following sources (including the introductory information) carefully. Then, write an essay in

which you develop a position on the effects of advertising. Synthesize at least three of the sources for

support.

You may refer to the sources by their titles (Source A, Source B, etc.) or by the descriptions in parentheses.

Source A (Red Cross)

Source B (Shaw)

Source C (Culpa)

Source D (Day)

Source E (Schrank)

Source F (Sesana)

2: In the passage below from Staying Put: Making a Home in a Restless World, Scott Russell Sanders responds

to an essay by Salman Rushdie, a writer who left his native India for England. Rushdie describes the "effect

of mass migrations" as being "the creation of radically new types of human being: people who root

themselves in ideas rather than places." Read the Sanders passage carefully. Then write an essay in which

you analyze the strategies Sanders uses to develop his perspective about moving.

3: A weekly feature of The New York Times Magazine is a column by Randy Cohen called "The Ethicist,"in

which people raise ethical questions to which Cohen provides answers. The question below is from the column

that appeared on April 4, 2003.

At my high school, various clubs and organizations sponsor charity drives, asking

students to bring in money, food, and clothing. Some teachers offer bonus points on

tests and final averages as incentives to participate. Some parents believe that this

sends a morally wrong message, undermining the value of charity as a selfless act.

Is the exchange of donations for grades O.K. ?

The practice of offering incentives for charitable acts is widespread, from school projects to fund drives by

organizations such as public television stations, to federal income tax deductions for contributions to

charities. In a well-written essay, develop a position on the ethics of offering incentives for charitable acts.

Support your position with evidence from your reading, observation, and/or experience.



Form for Rhetorical Précis:

Sentence #1 will include the following:

ο Name of the author and (if possible: a phrase describing the credentials of the author)

ο The type (e.g. essay, lecture, research paper, etc.) and title of the work

ο The date, if available (inserted in parentheses)

ο A rhetorically accurate verb (such as “assert,” “argue,” “suggest,” “imply,” “claim,”

etc.) that describes what the author is doing in the text

ο A THAT clause in which you state the major assertion (thesis statement) of the

author’s text


ο An explanation of how the author develops and/or supports the thesis (such as by

comparing and contrasting, narrating, illustrating, defining, etc.)

ο Present your explanation in the same chronological order that the items of support are

presented by the author in the text


ο A statement of the author’s purpose

ο Followed by an IN ORDER TO clause in which you explain what the author wants

the audience to do or feel as a result of reading the work


ο A description of the intended audience

ο A description of the tone the author uses

RHETORICAL PRECIS FRAME:

1. ___________________________________, _______________________________, in

(author’s credentials) (author’s first and last name)

his/her __________________, argues that ___________________________________________

(type of text)

_____________________________________________________________________________.

2. He/she supports this claim by first _____________________________________________,

then __________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________, then __________________________________________

_______________________________, and finally ____________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________.

3. ________________________’s purpose is to ______________________________________

(author’s last name) (what the author does in the text)

____________________________________________________________ in order to ________

_____________________________________________________________________________.

(what the author wants the audience to do after reading the text)

4. He/she adopts a(n) _________________________ tone for __________________________.

(intended audience)



Principles for Analyzing Rhetoric

The first step in analyzing rhetoric must always be a descriptive analysis of the strategies present in

the rhetoric. All analysis begins with a description of the strategies found in a piece of discourse.

Identifying Strategies

The goal of analysis is to see clearly:

What is being said (and)

How the rhetor is saying it

The five canons (principles) of rhetoric are

A. INVENTIONS

B. ORGANIZATION

C. STYLE

D. MEMORY (since contemporary rhetors no longer give extended speeches

from memory, critics no longer attend to that canon.)

E. DELIVERY (The canon of delivery refers to the verbal and non-verbal

performance of speech.)

(Although delivery is the key in the presentation of traditional

rhetorical discourse, critics cannot analyze it unless they have

access to actual event or to a videotape.)

Information on the remaining three cannons:

IDENTIFYING STRATEGIES

Most frameworks for describing rhetorical strategies continue to be rooted in the work of classical

theorists who laid them out as a five part system for the development of a speech. These are known

as the five canons of rhetoric --- invention, organization, style, memory and delivery.

Critics no longer give extended speeches from Memory; and, although Delivery is the key in

presentation of traditional rhetorical discourse, critics cannot analyze delivery which refers to the

verbal and non-verbal performance of speech, since critics cannot analyze it (delivery) unless they

have access to the actual event or a videotape.

Invention

The creation and development of ideas

Organization

The ordering of ideas

Style



The use of language

I. INVENTION IS DEVIDED INTO TWO AREAS: A. Inartistic Proofs—are materials that already exist and need only be put to use by a

rhetor.

1. Examples – individual instances of phenomenon to support the argument.

(employee volunteer program)

2. Statistics – count examples (numerical representation of a larger group of

phenomena such as percents)

3. Testimony – relaying the opinion of another—either and expert or a layperson—

on the topic at hand.

Evidence should meet some basic standards in order to be considered

useful or reliable.

1. be accurate (relevant and typical of other examples

• sufficient sample size

• correct gathering and processing data

2. come from a qualified source

• from experience

• from an expertise

3. be reasonably objective

• information that is relatively neutral

4. be timely

• evidence that is gathered close to the date of the

release of the discourse

B. Artistic Proofs –are ideas generated by the rhetor-- her or himself

• Evidence alone does not equal invention. The

evidence must serve to support some larger idea or

claim

• Unlike evidence which is gathered by the rhetor,

artistic proofs are actually invented by the rhetor for

the purpose of a particular piece of discourse.

1. Ethos --rhetor creates persuasion in the audience by building personal

credibility

2. Pathos --rhetor appeals to the emotions of the audience

3. Logos –rhetor appeals to the audience by making and supporting

reasonable arguments



While the basic rhetorical triangle sets out the three initial keys to developing skill with rhetoric, the triangle

needs to be modified so that it reflects three vital facts. First, rhetorical translations always take place in a

context-a convergence of time, place, people, events and motivating forces- that influences how the rhetor

understands, analyzes, and generates the persona, the appeals, and the subject matter material. Second, every

rhetorical transaction is designed to achieve an aim, a purpose, or an intention. Third, when rhetors consider

what aim they hope to accomplish in a particular context, they select an appropriate type of text, or genre, to

achieve that purpose. These three facts thus lead to three additional keys to developing skill with rhetoric.

Roskell, Hephzibah, and David Jolliffe. Everyday Use: Rhetoric at Work in Reading and Writing. New York:

Longman. 2007.

Speaker or writer

Subject Audience

Intention

Context

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